As we know, the first part of Gulliver’s Travels is a story about Gulliver’s journey to the country of the Lilliputians. From the very beginning we can see some strange similarity between what is being narrated by the author and what was happening in the foreign policy of England at that time. At the moment when Swift was writing Gulliver’s Travels England was very active in respect of colonization of other countries. Despite its small size, it was very powerful and strong because of its formidable fleet. This allowed England to get to know new places, people, ways of living, even some very exotic ones and totally different to their own culture, for example, the Americas. So, one of the possible interpretations of Gulliver’s arrival at Lilliputians’ land is the parallel between him and other Englishmen who were going to unknown places and were meeting other nations that were shockingly dissimilar to them.
However, this difference that Swift shows between Gulliver and the Lilliputians – the difference in size – has its important consequences. We can see that Gulliver is much stronger than the nation where he has become a prisoner. He has power to do whatever he wants in this new land he has discovered by chance (it is important to notice that the power is not only physical but it is also based on the technological achievement of Gulliver’s culture). But despite this fact, Gulliver seems to be afraid of the Lilliputians arrows and he condescends to be held prisoner. Probably here Swift makes an allusion to the policy of England in relation to the countries it was colonizing: though it is more powerful, it condescends not to destroy their native identity.